Eye For An Eye
by CaptainS10
Summary: AU. When Artemis's father goes missing, at first, he assumes its just a business trip run over. When he finds out otherwise, he starts investigating, and it becomes apparent what happened. So what does he do? He hatches an ingenious criminal plan to get him back, and he's not picky on how far he goes to make it work. He might just make some imperative discoveries along the way..
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, people. **

**So, basically, I'm doing one of those rapid fire things. I've written a bunch for this that I will probably forget to post if I leave it, so that's why I'm doing it, and partially as a challenge for myself. Until I black out tonight, I will post a chapter of this consistently every two hours. And for tomorrow, too, until I can't possibly because I've ran out of chapters. **

**Ready for this? ;)**

1.

Artemis was deep in thought.

The boy was thinking, hard, once more, about a topic he had no control over: his father.

The man was missing. Still. It had been almost a month. Sure, his missions had gone over before, but never this long. Never, had the older Fowl not found some way to contact them, or at least him, to tell them that he was okay, that he was coming back and everything was fine.

Something wasn't right. No, it wasn't even that mild; something was very, very wrong.

He wasn't going to sit around and wait around for the trail to go cold any longer, that was for sure. He was Artemis Fowl the second, and he was going to find out what happened to his father. He could, and he would.

He got up, stretched, then paced down the hall to his father's old study. It had been sitting bare for this past month, untouched; all his channels were still up, and the very same tabs he had last opened were still sitting open on his laptop. None of it was changed. None of it had been touched since Fowl Senior disappeared.

Artemis sat down and went through every open tab. It was all nonsense, it seemed; business stuff that the teen had no hand in. He could probably make sense of it, had he really tried, but now he didn't want to. Unless he traced something back that pertained to it, that could have a possible connection to his father disappearing, it didn't matter to him.

Next, he went through all the files. There was plenty of nonsense there too, but there was one thing that really caught his eye. It was a single file, but it was large, it was new, and it had been recently opened. In fact… as he clicked on it and an icon at the bottom of the screen extended, he realized it was still open. He himself had minimized it, when he first rebooted the computer from sleep mode.

It was the last thing on the computer that his father had looked at. And, as he knew that the older Fowl usually checked over all his files directly before he left for a business venture, as sort of a double check and a reassurance, Artemis realized that this was, in truth, probably the very last thing his father had seen at the manor before he left. This made him zero in on it all the harder as he glared at the screen, his eyes skimming through every inch of it.

Some of it made sense, some of it didn't. The teen didn't know much about his father's latest business venture, but what he did know seemed to be mixed in randomly. It was all messed up, and some of it seemed almost incomplete. But no - that wasn't like Fowl Senior, to have incomplete notes, things changed or missing that shouldn't have been. It was all there, but.. it just wasn't.

Again, something wasn't right. This time, though, it was something he could easily fix with something he did very well: hacking.

If there was something more ingrained, or purposefully cut out, he had to have a code or file or _something _saved for it somewhere. Artemis Fowl Senior wasn't a genius. Something like that would have been near impossible for him to memorize and get down to a tee so quickly. He just couldn't have done it. So there had to be a way around it in there somewhere… and he intended to find it.

He leaned back in his chair, cracked his knuckles, and began his search.

It took about an hour, which was longer than Artemis expected to have to search. Whatever he had been hiding, his father had went to very long lengths, much more so than ever before, to keep it hidden. It must have been big, and important. He must have deemed it something nobody should ever, no matter what, find out.

Maybe a regular person wouldn't have found it. In fact, they probably most definitely wouldn't have. A regular person would have given up long ago - if, that is, they'd even made it this far. He doubted it. He had much more patience, not to mention intelligence, than the average person, and this was only another thing to add onto the ever growing list of things that proved it.

Once he found the file, it was a simple matter to break through anymore firewalls blocking access to get inside it. When he did, he read it. And when he read it… well, it was an even simpler matter than breaking down firewalls to put the pieces together and figure out exactly what had happened to his father in the most likely scenario. After that, all it came down to was devising an effective counterattack… devising an effective plan.

And luckily for him and his father, that was _exactly _what he was good at.

**Next chapter at 10:30! Please R&R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I won't babble this time. It's self explanatory. **

**Here's chapter two! Enjoy!**

2.

"Make sure you have the harness completely and correctly intact," her father repeated, once again. "Otherwise, it's purpose is null and void, and more than likely it will hurt you during takeoff and landing instead of help you."

"I know, I know," Holly laughed, batting his hand away. "Don't lecture me. I've graduated, you know. I know these things already!"

The male elf shrugged as he sat in the pilot's chair again, strapping his own harness into place. He put on his headset and she did the same, leaning back and waiting for the retort she knew was coming. Indeed, it did. "You've only just graduated," he reminded her, shrugging and flipping switches at the same time. "And I don't care either way. I'm still going to remind you. A little reminder never killed anyone.. in fact, I've seen the exact opposite before, actually."

"Okay!" Holly threw her hands up in exasperation and mock surrender. "You win! Stop lecturing me and fly!"

Christopher threw his head back and laughed, and Holly smiled. She loved his laugh; it wasn't rare in itself, but it was rare to hear it so true and full, and commonly. But yet, he hadn't stopped smiling since he picked her up from the ceremony. The laughter had followed. "Well, as long as I've good and won… I'll let it go," he agreed affably. "But just because I know my point is already made." He winked at her and then looked out of the shuttle front again. She chuckled and looked down.

"Dad?" she asked, after a minute.

"Hm?" He didn't look over, entirely focused on the chutes around them as they flew.

"Where are we going?"

"Oh, that." He grinned crookedly at her and shrugged. "It's a surprise."

Holly's smile faded a fraction. "I hate surprises. You know that. Anyways, if you're taking me back where we went last time -"

"No, no! Not there this time. We couldn't go there if we wanted to," he assured. "I was going to take you to Crete's Cliff, to camp for the weekend."

"Okay.. but, what happened?" Holly asked. Last time they'd came to the surface together, he'd taken her through Tara, and, well, there were problems, to say the least. She didn't want to think about it. But to hear Tara was closed off? Why? "Was there a crime there or something?"

Chris sighed as he looked at his daughter, merely a sideways glance from the corner of his eye, but even he could see she was interested. "You know I'm not supposed to talk about this stuff outside of work."

"Hey, I'm graduated. Technically I'm LEP now too," Holly said, putting her hands up again. "So it's still technically co-workers, at least."

Chris stared at her for a second, then shook his head. "My daughter is my co-worker. Oh, Frond, I feel old." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath - kind of a dangerous feat all things considered, as he was supposed to be piloting and all - then sighed and shook his head again before speaking. "Alright. There was an incident there. But it's being kept purposely from civilian ears, so don't tell anyone else," he added in quickly.

"Of course not. What happened?" she asked, eager but cautious still. If it was that severe, that it was being kept tightly under wraps, it was important… and dangerous. But yet, still as young and free-spirited as Holly was, it was exciting for her too, in a sick sort of way.

Chris could sense it. He sighed again, but still answered. "There was a human situation there. He… knew things… and stuff happened." He held up a hand to stop her from speaking, when she opened her mouth. "I can't tell you much more. He's currently being held in custody and we're trying to figure out what exactly went down, that he knew so much and all."

"How long has he been in custody?"

He hesitated before answering. "About… five weeks, give or take a few days?" he replied, clearly slightly unsure from his tone.

Holly gaped. "Dad! Isn't that illegal?"

He shook his head. "Not technically, because he's been unconscious for so much of it. Comatose."

"Comatose? Why? Hu-ooooow!"

The last part was an explanation of pain - she had started to ask how, only for the shuttle to rattle as he came in for a landing. Preoccupied as she was, she let herself bounce and smacked her head on the panel above her. "D'Arvit," she muttered, rubbing her head. "That hurt."

"Language, Holly," Chris warned, shooting her a look as he freed himself from his harness.

"Oh!" Her hands shot up to her mouth as she realized what she'd said in front of her father. "Whoops."

"Yeah, whoops," he muttered, giving her an icy look as he smacked her harness for her, releasing it. Then he marched out without another word. Holly sighed and watched him go, then followed him after a minute.

She barely made it out of the shuttle.

Her father was standing by the exit, frozen, one hand on the handle of his ever-present Neutrino.

"What-" she started to say, but he clamped a hand down over her mouth, stopping her in her tracks and effectively shutting her up.

"Quiet," he hissed, too quiet for human ears to pick up. He spoke in Gnommish, to top it off, although it was a tad unnecessary. "I heard something. I know I did. Shield, and don't go anywhere. I'm going to investigate." And with that, he shimmered out of sight.

Holly breathed out deeply when he let his hand off her mouth and nodded, then shimmered out of view herself. She picked her way across the field, careful not to make too much noise, and stopped, searching around to detect a shimmer in the air that was her father. But no luck; she didn't see him. In fact, the only thing she saw was…

Holly gasped.

There was a human across the field. Looking straight at her. But that wasn't possible… was it?

She didn't think so. Until a massive hand clamped down over her mouth and nose.

Her instincts screamed at her to fight back; her mind told her that this wasn't possible, so therefore it wasn't real - no need to panic. Maybe she was dreaming.

It only took the time for her to feel the needle puncture her shoulder and for her shield to flicker down for her to realize that this was no dream. And by that time, it was too late to do anything about it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Still nothing to say but enjoy the chapter. :)**

3.

She woke up in a cell.

Her memory was fuzzy, blurry; things were distorted, and thinking about it made her head hurt. She wasn't on the shuttle, or at the cliffs, or even at home in her bed, though - that much she could tell. What had happened? She couldn't seem to remember.. but it was bad, she knew that much.

Her eyelids fluttered and her actual eyes burned. Her throat felt like sandpaper, and she tried to lift a hand to find she couldn't. Something was keeping her from moving. Weirdly enough, it almost felt… soft. Silky. Strange.

Suddenly, a voice came to her out of nowhere. Her eyes were still closed, and she was sure she hadn't made a sound, so it must have been her movement, her weak struggling that had drawn attention to her. She heard the sound of a tongue clicking and a fake sigh, right next to her. "My, Butler, do you see this? The poor dear isn't even conscious and she's struggling." Feathery light and alarmingly cool, something caressed her cheek once before retracting. "Ah, well. That just means she's well trained. We were right to catch this one."

There was a soft rustling of fabric as the person beside her stood. "Well, the cameras are on. I suppose I'll come back down when she wakes, talk to her then. After all, maybe she'll cough up some information without the aid of truth serum… if she does, it will only turn out better for her." There was a pause. "Come, Butler. Let us go."

A deep, gravelly voice answered in grim tones. "Yes sir."

There was the sound of footsteps following, and a low creaking - a door opening and closing. Soon, it became evident that was the last soon she would hear; they were gone.

She relaxed a bit, and, after only a few minutes, although it felt like hours to her, she drifted back off.

oOoOoOoOoOo

The next time she came around, it was easier. She stayed conscious, and she felt relatively better too. The effects of what Artemis had drugged her with - the tranquilizer - had long worn off by now.

Her eyes fluttered open to see a cold, pale face above her.

Artemis grinned a little, pleased that she was awake. "Hello," he said calmly, his tone almost conversational. "Good to see you're awake." Holly gave no answer, only stared at him, so he continued, "how are you feeling?"

Holly didn't answer. "Who are you?" she croaked out. Her voice was low and throaty, not to mention weak, but it was the first thing she could get out, and she felt she had used the words well. "What do you want?"

"Oh, straight to business, then," Fowl chuckled. "Really, shame. Can't we just talk a bit first? I'm more interested in you, at the moment."

"The feeling is mutual," Holly snapped. She felt braver now; her voice wasn't cracking so bad, and some of the strength and feeling was returning to her arms. "Anyway, I have a feeling you know more about me than I do about you."

"True, true," he admitted, then paused and added, his tone meaningful, "_Holly_."

Holly snarled a little and jerked her bonds, but it only served to jerk her back and slam into the wall… and make her shoulder pop, too. Artemis chuckled dryly.

"You shouldn't tug your bonds, Holly. You'll only hurt yourself. Although, you won't succeed easily in cutting yourself or getting rope burn from them; there's some silk beneath the ropes, to keep it from rubbing harshly or biting the skin. If you must, though, you can try." Fowl sighed mockingly and shrugged. "I'm just warning you, really."

Holly sighed and fell back against the wall, closing her eyes. She quickly realized he was right… and that she was tightly secure. She wasn't going anywhere.

Holly swallowed and opened her eyes. "Okay. Who are you and what do you want?" she repeated insistently.

He laughed. "Stubborn little thing, aren't you? Well, if you must know… I am Artemis Fowl the Second. And I want my father back." He quirked an eyebrow at her and smirked. "Good enough explanation for you?"

She licked her lips and nodded. "For now." Her eyes closed again; for some reason, looking at him bothered her. She found his penetrating stare unnerving. "Look, I don't know who or what you think I am, but I'm not what you hear about in fairy tales. I'm a dangerous-.. D'Arvit," she muttered. She had opened her eyes when she felt something cold against her forehead, and she opened her eyes to find it was the barrel of her own gun.

"Oh, yes," Artemis chuckled. "You look very dangerous right now. Truly. Very intimidating." He leaned forward, very purposely putting a hand on her thigh and pushing down, putting all his weight on it as he moved slowly but smoothly closer, dragging the gun along her head as he moved. He ended with it on one side of her head against her temple, and his lips on the other side, just below the temple, so he was speaking barely an inch from her ear. "You're not going to scare me, Holly. I am entirely in control here, and I will do whatever it takes to show it to you. Don't think that I won't." He pulled back and faced her as he spoke. "I know who you are and I know what you are. It's in your best interests to just give me the information I want and be done with it."

Her breathing hitched a little, but she nodded. "What information?"

"About my father." His breath was warm, and it tickled her nose as he spoke. "Where he's at, what's been done with him… as much as you know. As if you withhold information…. well, let's just say it won't be pretty. I don't have to be kind, you know."

Holly gulped and looked him in the eyes. She had never mastered the art of hiding her emotions, especially under pressure. On a battlefield, maybe, or a shoot out. But now… no. It wasn't like the LEP had situations like these that they simulated at the academy. Hostage situations? Yes. Human situations where you are the hostage? Um.. no.

So as she looked him in the eyes, some of her emotions were plainly displayed. But it didn't matter. She could feel however she wanted to feel as long as the words that came out of her mouth counted.

"I won't tell you anything," she told him icily.

Fowl sighed. "Alright. If you say so." He stood up. "Just a tip, too, Holly - don't count on it lasting. Oh, and, pray you have some magic." With that, and one more nasty smirk, he got up and left her alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Boop.**

**Has anybody even read this yet? I don't know but I'm kind of enjoying this so it doesn't really matter.**

**Chapter four - enjoy!**

**Oh, and guys, this is T for a reason - this chapter has torture.**

4.

It didn't take her long to find out what he meant.

Fowl was serious when he said that she had better pray that she had some magic left, because early on, in around the next hour or so, came the pain.

He tortured her.

It wasn't actually him, much to her surprise. Also surprisingly, it wasn't the guy he had been talking to the first time she'd came round, when she'd regained consciousness on a level but hadn't actual woken. She was sure of that. Although, she hadn't actually seen who had done it to her.. but she was sure it wasn't them because the hands and the voices hadn't added up. '

She hadn't seen them because, originally, she was asleep. The first thing they did when they came in was inject something into her. Again it was her shoulder - the same place they'd put the tranquilizer into. The sting woke her up - but she couldn't open her eyes. The drug had immobilized her.

A pang of fear shot through her chest at the realization. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she couldn't defend herself at all. Although, she probably couldn't have very well had she not been immobilized, but at least her legs would have been useful - she could have kicked at them, had they got too close. But now she was just stuck.

For a long minute, until the drug kicked in, there was silence. No one moved, no one spoke, and nothing happened. Then, suddenly, she felt it: a feather touch against her cheek, but it was cold, pointed. She heart leapt as she realized what she was feeling was the prick of a knife.

It was light for about a quarter of a second more, then it bite into her skin, dragging down her cheek and slicing it open. The cut was relatively small, but deep; about an inch long but closer to half an inch deep. She would have gasped, had she been able to move her jaw.

The knife moved around, the touch light again. It smeared blood down her jaw. She could feel the sickly warmth of blood as it dripped down her jaw on her collarbone and gagged as the knife trailed down, clear down, scraping light everywhere but not really cutting anywhere else because of her clothes. That was, until it reached her leg, and then suddenly it was inside her leg, almost exactly where Fowl's hand had been not long before. This time the drug didn't hinder her; perhaps her jaw was still frozen, but that didn't keep her from letting out a bloodcurdling scream of pain as the knife dug in was twisted into her leg inside the bone.

Suddenly, it was pulled out of her leg, and it was in her opposite side instead, wedged between her second and third rib. Tears of pain were running down her face by this time; she couldn't open her eyes to blink them away, and she wasn't sure if she could have in this amount of pain anyway. Once again, her training still wasn't suitable for what she was facing in large-scale, real life.

Then, just as quickly as it all had started, it stopped. The knife was gone, the hands - and just in time, because she could feel herself start to black out; whether from blood loss or pain she didn't know, probably a combination of both. But it didn't matter, because she was still gone.

The last thing she heard before it all went dark was the door creaking closed behind them as they left.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

When she regained consciousness again, the drug had worn off, and she wasn't alone in the cell.

Fowl was there. And he was leaning right over her.

Holly gasped and tried to pull back, but she couldn't. The immobilizing effects of the drug may have worn off, but she was still tied up.

"Stop," she mumbled, jerking away from the cool touch on her face. His cool chuckle resounded next to her ear.

"You stop. I'm only trying to help you," he said softly, wiping her cheek again and trying to get the blood off her skin.

"Help me? I think you mean hurt me." She tugged her head away again, and this time he stopped. "You know, that was.. kind of brutal," she said, slightly afraid that he would get irritated if she brought it up.

Fowl nodded, and looked down. "I know. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind either."

Holly narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, right. You don't have to lie. I know I was being punished, and lying to me about it is just -"

"No," he interrupted her. "Holly, it wasn't. I did have it inflicted as punishment, a way to loosen your tongue - but I only said a little amount of knife play. Not gaping wounds, or… the other things they did."

Holly's eyes widened. "What do you mean, the other things they did? Did something happen after I passed out? I thought they left... "

The human shook his head, looking almost pained. "It doesn't matter. They did leave, and that won't happen again - at least, not without some very strong provocation." He paused. "Which reminds me… are you ready to talk yet?"

Holly gave him a disgusted look. "Now _especially _I won't tell you anything."

He sighed. "Oh, really? Why not?"

"How do you even know my people took your father? For all you know, he up and left. If I had a kid like you, I'd leave you too."

Fowl didn't like that, that much was obvious; he closed his eyes and reigned in his temper carefully before speaking again. "He was going on a business venture. It involved your people. It's fairly safe to assume that even if you don't have him in your clutches, your people are still to blame for his disappearance. And you should really, really hold your tongue." He opened his eyes again, and they glinted with steel, but strangely, there was no hint of malice in them, just a slight irritation and a lot of determination. "If you do have him, it's a simple matter of an easy swap. They give me my father back, I give them their little elf back." He shrugged and smirked at her. "Quick, clean cut and easy."

"And what if we don't have him?" Holly asked. Assuming she was thinking about the right thing, she knew that they did - he was comatose and being held in Haven by the LEP. It must have been the same case her own father had been telling her about on the way up. But still, she had to know.

"Then your people will find him," Artemis replied promptly. "And when they do, they will bring him back to me, and it's the same deal."

"What if he's dead?" Holly asked. "Or we can't find him or won't give him back? What happens then?"

Fowl looked her in the eyes. She looked back and forced herself to not swallow or make a sound. "Well, then, they'll have to cope without their little elf then, won't they?" he said quietly. "Exactly the same way I'll have to cope without my father."

Holly swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess…." she muttered, letting it run off. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, swallowing hard.

She didn't expect what she felt next. Much to her surprise, she felt something large and warm cover her good knee, lightly squeezing. She opened her eyes to see him staring at her with an almost sympathetic look on his face. "Don't worry about that. I have reason to believe your people do have my father, held somewhere, similar to how I have you now in fact. And even if they don't…" he shrugged. "I'm not much for painful deaths, so it would be quick, at least."

She was quiet for a minute. "You know I don't know anything," she whispered, after a minute. Her eyes flitted up to him and locked on his pale face. "Right?"

Artemis shook his head. "Oh, but you do," he told her, meeting her gaze sideways. "I know you do. In fact, I'm sure lots of people know something, anything at all; even rumors that have been tossed around and twisted to the point that you probably wouldn't know where they came from unless you thought very, very hard about them, which I doubt that you have. And I can tell, from your eyes, especially," he added, tilting her chin up when she looked down again, "when you attempt to avoid my gaze, that you do know _something_. You just won't tell me what it is." He paused, then, almost mockingly, added, "right?"

Holly just stared at him silently, unable to move her gaze from his, and unwilling to cough up what little information she knew. It wasn't much, but it was probably more than he knew, and she didn't want to tell him anything. It would be too much to give in. After all, this was all set up.. it would be sort of like a game. And he'd said it himself - he was torturing her to loosen her tongue. He was trying to break her, to get the information he seemed to desperately want.. but she didn't plan to break.

Eventually, he sighed and released her chin, then stood up to leave. Holly stopped her silence then, at least momentarily; there was one thing eating at her that she had to know.

"..Fowl?"

The human stopped and looked back at her. "Yes?"

She hesitated, then said, "the fairy, the other one, who was with me.. what happened to him?"

He turned fully around towards her and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask? If you're hoping he'll attempt to rescue you, I promise you it's not going to happen."

Holly's eyes widened. "Did you kill him?" She tugged against her bonds once, her motions almost frantic. "Please tell me you didn't kill him."

Artemis cocked his head, thinking. Then he said, "tell me who he is to you, and I'll tell you."

Holly swallowed hard and dropped her eyes. "He's my father," she whispered, lowering her head. "Please, I know it's not right, but-"

"What isn't? That you care about him? Of course it is. You should." He turned and went back to the door, and Holly's shoulders slumped, figuring she'd been cheated and he wasn't going to answer her. But he paused by the door. "No, we didn't kill him, merely knocked him out. He's alive, Holly." With that, he closed the door and left her alone.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

The door to the Operations Booth swung open. Christopher marched in, dirty and ragged but determined.

"Julius. I need a Retrieval team," barked the male elf, standing by the door with his arms crossed and glaring around the room.

The Commander looked up at him and frowned, incredulous. "Why do you need retrieval? And I was pretty sure you were supposed to be on the surface for the next two days."

"I was, before we were attacked by a group of humans," he replied icily.

Root's head shot towards him at that, and, suddenly, the elf was interested. "A group of humans? When? How many?"

"I don't know how long, exactly. One of them was a monster sized one. One hit and I was gone. On top of it, they drugged me, and they took Holly." He paused. "As for the number, I only saw two. Considering where we were, it wasn't really feasible for there to be more hidden around there, but nothing is impossible."

Root nodded. "This is the second incident in the span of a month.. perhaps its wider knowledge up there now than we guessed."

"Or, perhaps, it's someone looking for revenge," commented Chris. At the Commander's look, he elaborated, "one of them was a bulky mountain, yes, but the other was even smaller than normal. A kid. Ebony hair, pale as a ghost, twig sized." He raised an eyebrow. "Description sound familiar at all?"

"Sounds like a minnie of the one we got in the back," Root said.

"My thoughts too," he agreed. "If I may, Commander, I think it may be his child, out to find his father. He's probably intelligent, to have picked up immediately everything, as he seems to have obviously put the pieces together and made up a plan." He leaned back against the wall and shrugged. "If you look, his plan is also quite obvious - he'll exchange Holly for his father. But.."

"But?" prompted Root. He liked Chris; he liked the help he provided, his intelligence, and his work ethic. He had a future, Root could feel it, and he made it a point to give him the chance to show it and realize his potential as much as possible. In situations like these, his theories and quick wit had never proved useless, and most of them turned out to not be too far off.

"But, anyone ruthless enough to come up with such a plan so quickly may not have many morals. If it's not bad enough he's human, and he has the mountain, there's now that, too. And knowing my Holly, it's quite likely she'll fight every movement he makes, which means he might also hurt her. Badly." He paused. "I say our first priority is finding out his identity. Either way, we find his or we get his father's, and it leads us one to another. We should be able to get all the information we need from that, including where to go to negotiate."

Root's lips twitched into a small half-smirk, which was a lot for him. "Good?"

Chris nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright." Root clasped his hands behind his back, frowning as he went back over to his desk and settled down. Chris immediately followed and sat in the empty chair on the side across from him. "Well," he began, "I couldn't agree more, to be honest. I like having someone with their instincts so honed - very valuable, and it saved me the time of doing all that myself." He shrugged. "However, if you are right, there's no need for Retrieval quite yet. It's better to sit and wait it out. I'll get Foaly on the search for information-"

"Information for what?" asked the centaur. Both elves turned to see him clopping in, a rather large file of papers in his hand.

"On our guest," Root replied. "Or his kid. Whichever turns up more."

Foaly laughed. "Really? I got all that already. You wouldn't believe what Interpol has on these guys. His kid alone has enough for half a library, and he's twelve." He shrugged. "Mr. Senior in there is worse, though. Closer to a library and a half. That's almost two libraries worth of info on those two!" He laughed again.

Root whistled, and Chris said, "well, that explains the size of the file." He paused. "And, I wouldn't laugh so much, if I were you. These guys are horrible. One of them has Holly."

That shut him up. His gales subsided. "Um… what?" he asked, unsure if he'd heard correctly.

"You heard him," Root said gruffly. "One of those guys - the son - has his daughter. Holly. You know her."

Foaly frowned. "Yeah, of course. Holls is my little flower. You said the Fowl boy has her?" His expression had went from mirthful to unduly worried. He went over to his computer and pulled up a picture of Artemis, studied it, and then turned to them. "This guy?"

Root looked at Chris, but the man was already nodding. "Same guy. I saw him clear as day… no mistaking that face."

Foaly nodded. "I'm sure it'd be hard to forget.." His voice took on a saddened tone as he spoke again. "I wonder if Holly is looking at that face right now.."

Chris swallowed and nodded. "Is…" He stopped when he voice cracked and cleared his throat before he spoke again. "Is there any way to tell?"

Foaly thought about it. "Maybe, maybe. I think we - well, I - might be able to get into the security at his place, Fowl Manor. If he really has her prisoner, then no doubt he's got surveillance on her…" He paused,minimizing the picture and rapid fire beginning to type, sifting through files and programs and trying to gain access into the manor. "I think there's a backdoor here. As long as I don't push too much and try to loop anything, he shouldn't even know I'm in… if I can get in, that is." His fingers swept across the keyboard, almost blurry they were moving so fast.

Chris exchanged a look with the Commander as he watched him. "He's good at this."

"That's why he's here," Root grunted, returning to working on his paperwork. Chris chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, nodding.

"True."

While the other two worked, Chris watched, fascinated by the numbers flashing across the screen but not understanding them in the slightest. It only took a minute, but eventually, he broke the code.

At that point, neither of the other two men were looking at him. He got their attention very quickly, though, as he finally made it into the security and found the monitor that was on Holly.

"Uh oh," he breathed.

"Uh oh? What uh oh?" demanded Root. He got up and went over to him, frowning as he got a look at the screen. "Ah… D'Arvit," he muttered.

Chris started forward. "What? D'Arvit and uh oh what? That's my daughter, damnit!" He ran up and shoved between them. His eyes widened when he took it what was on the screen. "Oh, hell," he growled, storming away. "I don't believe this."

The screen showed the security on Holly, the view from Fowl's cameras. They could see her, tied to the wall, and at the moment, unconscious. This time it wasn't forceful, though - this time, she was just resting, sleeping, and gathering up her strength for the next encounter. Her sleep seemed to be more restful than one would expect, considering her situation.

But none of that was what was the most surprising, what caused them to become so instantly worried on sight. It was her. Holly was smeared in blood, some of it still seeping from the wounds in her side and her leg - both of them were unmistakably big, nasty holes, and if one looked close enough, they would be able to see the red marks from the serrated edges of the knife on her skin around the wounds, both of them. And her face… well, Holly had felt the deep cut that served as the underline to what was on her face; what she didn't feel was the pattern that the actual blood had been made above it.

For on the side of her face, directly above the deep cut and written in her own smeared blood, was one word: Fowl.

Chris was instantly on the other side of the room, swearing under his breath and cursing Artemis in a dozen languages. Root was after him in a second. "Chris, stop," he ordered, grabbing his officer by the arm and spinning him around. "We-"

"Don't tell me to stop!" raged the elf, ripping his arm from his boss's grasp. "Did you see that? Did you see what he did? He defiled her! He used her own blood and engraved his name into her skin! That sick bastard! I ought to go up there and kill him!"

Root sighed. "Look, I couldn't agree more, but that's not the point. Our first step has to be to wake up Fowl Senior and see what we can get from him. Before Fowl Junior contacts us, and we have to put him off and risk hurting Holly more." Root looked him in the eyes and forcefully said, "okay?"

Chris stared at him, his jaw clenched. "Fine!" he shouted, throwing his hands up. "Fine. But when we go to negotiate, I'm going with."

With that, he turned and ran out, slamming the door behind him.

"Uh, Commander, you might want to stop him," Foaly said quietly.

"Why? He's entitled to be -"

"No! He's going to want to see this," Foaly insisted. "Get him. Now."

"What?" The Commander walked up, looked over his shoulder and then winced and nodded. "Okay, yeah, I'll go get him."

"Good," muttered the centaur, turning on the recorder. "He's going to want to see this."

Fowl was back.

**Getting close to running out of chapters.. and feedback, anyone?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay. So I know have like six more chapters of this ready.. go me! I just need to post them. I'll be briefly here. Reviews, feedback, followers, etc. Something to let me know that everyone hasn't decide to abandon my crappy stories and disappear, and I'll update, because I'm ready to start chucking these chapters out like crazy. Also, fair warning, there is some mind games and manipulation stuff in here. It's back with Artemis and Holly too. I gotta say.. twisted as it is, these scenes are fun to write. Hopefully they're fun too read too.. anyway, enjoy!**

7.

"Holly." Fowl's voice, softer and kinder than she'd heard it before, but still just as insistent, coaxed her into consciousness. "Wake up."

Holly groaned a little, her eyes opening a little and then closing. Half asleep as she still was, and unused to hearing him speak like that, she confused his voice for that of someone else. "Dad?"

He chuckled. "No, Holly. It's Artemis Fowl, remember? Wake up, now. We need to talk."

Remembrance and pain flashed across her face as her eyes opened. "Yeah… right. About what?" she asked, stifling a yawn in her shoulder. He chuckled a little and shrugged.

"About my father, of course."

Holly sighed. "Look, please - I don't know anything about your father. You'd have been better off for information with my dad than me. You're not going to get anything from torturing me, or pestering me, or anything else you care to try."

"Oh?"

"Oh, yeah, Mud Boy." She yawned, unable to hold it back this time. "Can I go back to sleep now? Please?"

"Oh, of course. You're free to go back to sleep any time you'd like."

"Thank you-" she started to say, but stopped when he kept going.

"We'll just continue this conversation when you wake up, after the pain starts curling around in your abdomen. Maybe then you'll be forthcoming with information."

Holly gasped and stared at him with wide eyes. "You're joking, right? What do you mean?"

Fowl shrugged. "Well, that's what holy water does to fairies, right? I'd just assumed you'd want the cure as soon as possible as so to not have to go through unnecessary pain, but apparently I was wrong."

"Holy water?" Holly whispered. "You put holy water in me?"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

"Why? You stupid human. You'll never get information from me now! You've as good as killed me!" Holly gasped, horrified. "I don't know how you did it, but that's sick and cruel. I thought you didn't like painful deaths?"

"Well, how I did it, my dear elf - it's simple really. Look here." He pointed to her bound arm, strung into a prone position above her head. There was now an IV inserted in the vein. At the moment, there was nothing attached to it, but it was still there, ready and waiting to be used. He smiled a little at her acknowledgement, and he saw the realization in her eyes. "Yes, that's where it went in," he admitted. "It could also be where I administer the cure.. if you agree, that is."

Holly's head snapped back towards him. Slowly, she had just started to resign herself to her fate, but now… "You have a cure?" she asked, hoping her voice didn't give away her nervousness too much.

"Well, yes, I do," he said pleasantly. He knelt beside her and pulled a vial from his pocket. "And I'll happily administer it.. if you agree to it."

"Why wouldn't I agree to it? Or, better yet.. what did you do to it?" she demanded.

"Smart elf! Good girl, the correct question on the first try." He chuckled. "See, Holly, it's just sort of a double check. This little elixir right here -" he flicked the bottle, "-is exactly what you need to survive. It will counterattack the holy water. The catch, is that it is mixed with sodium pentothal, more commonly known as truth serum." He shrugged. "Again, it's simple, really. You get to live, and I get any information you might have about my father extracted without any further pain to you."

"Okay," Holly said, slowly, chewing it over as she spoke, "and what if I say no?"

"Well, as stupid as that would be... I suppose you could." Artemis sighed. "If you deny the sodium pentothal, Holly, then I will leave you to suffer the pain of the holy water until the very last possible minute, and then I'll simply administer the cure anyways, and we continue the course of action we were on. I have a... _special _session planned next, if you refuse." His smirk was absolutely vampiric. "Now. May I administer the cure, or not?"

Holly took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She could already feel the beginning of pains in her side, shooting through her organs.. ugh, no, she couldn't do it. She just couldn't. Forgive me, Frond, she prayed silently, then nodded. "Fine, administer the sodium pentothal. I won't tell you anything anyways. I don't know enough for it to make a difference to you."

Artemis grinned. "Great. I figured you'd make the right decision." He stood up and uncorked the vial, promptly screwing it into the IV tube and letting the liquid run down to her veins. "There. All better. Oh, and Holly?"

She looked up and frowned. "What?"

He leaned down and brushed his lips across the tip of her ear, smiling. "You're a good girl," he said, mockingly, and then stood and walked to the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes, when that kicks in, and then we'll talk."

Holly nodded and rested her head against the wall. Her stomach was doing little flips; not from the holy water, but from nerves, and probably at least partially because of the chemical mixture Fowl had just poured into her veins. And of course it probably didn't help that not only was there sodium pentothal and the cure in that vial, but he had also mixed in a touch of sedative - not enough to knock her out, but enough to make her drowsy and ensure that she wouldn't remember any of their interrogation when it wore off. As much of that as she'd already had in her system lately, it might have had an effect.

Fowl came back down about ten or so minutes later by Holly's count. He sat down in front of her, cross-legged, and watched her with curiosity. "Time for a little test," he muttered, then louder, "how do you feel?"

Holly blinked a feel times and shrugged. "I'm guessing you mean physically, so I'll say fine, considering I don't think you actually care anyways."

Artemis cocked an eyebrow. "Well, well. Someone is very honest under the influence. I'll keep that in mind." He paused. "But, on a serious note, really: how do you feel?"

"Mentally or physically?" Holly asked. She was leaning back against the wall, her eyes closed and her shoulders relaxed. Another effect of the sedative, another plus: it made her feel more relaxed, which meant even without the sodium pentothal he might have gotten something out of her.

"Technical too, apparently," Artemis noted, smirking. "Both."

Holly frowned. "Well, whatever you put in me - I can't pronounce it - is making my stomach flip. I'm kind of nauseous. And thirsty. As for emotionally… do you want to get into that? There's a lot going on up here now." She shrugged a little bit. "I'd tap the side of my head to make a point, but my hands are tied."

He swallowed a little. She was bolder and more honest on the serum. Strange. "No, let's stay out of that for now. Maybe after. Now, let us get to business, shall we?" He took a breath and said, "my father. What do you know?"

She sighed and thought about it. "Okay.. I don't know who your father is. I'm guessing that would be who my dad said the LEP was dealing with."

Artemis frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Uh, what? Dealing with?"

She lifted her hands the best she could in mock surrender. "Hey, don't look at me. I don't know. My information is limited. I only know what my dad told me in the shuttle on the way here. I know that Tara was closed down because of him, and that he is comatose somewhere in Haven, presumably one of the police holding cells. But that's it."

"That's it?" She really knew so little information? He might have saved his serum and gotten the information from the negotiators when they came. Of course, it was a little more than what he had known - now he knew where he was - but still, it wasn't much. "That's…"

"That's all I know," Holly replied. "I _told _you I didn't know anything."

"Oh, hell," muttered the human. "I might have saved my serum had I known that you knew that little."

Holly giggled a little and shrugged. "If you would have believed me in the first place, we wouldn't have had that, would we?"

"If you would have told me what little you knew in the first place, more like," he retorted, standing up.

"Wait! I thought you were going to stay until it wore off!"

The human paused next to the door and looked at her. "I never said that."

"But.. you did say.. oh, forget it," she grumbled. "It's not even worth arguing over. You'll probably just torture me for as much as I've already said anyways."

Artemis frowned at her, wavering in his resolve. After a minute, he said, "you know that's not true."

"Right," she muttered. "Hardly. Whatever. You know, I find the constant lies and mind games really annoying already, and I haven't even been here that long."

His eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you think that I'm playing at, but it's simple: I'm not messing with your head. If I wanted to mess with your head, I could be doing things a lot differently than I am now. Consider yourself lucky, and that's all I'm saying." With that, he whirled out the door, irritated, and slammed it shut behind him.

Holly stared after him in wonder. "Get what you get," she muttered, then proceeded to lay back down and close her eyes. After all, when you're in captivity and so tightly under wraps, there's not much else to do but sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Well, keep this short and simple. You guys asked for more; I aim to please. Oh, and, fair warning - torture/pain in this chapter. **

8.

Fowl was pacing.

He couldn't believe she actually had so little information about his father. Maybe she was right and he would have been better off if he had taken her father hostage instead... But no, she was proving helpful enough; just because she lacked information didn't mean she lacked value. He would bet anything that her father did have the information and knew that she did not, which meant that he would be all the more frantic to try to get her back. That meant that he was would be working all the harder and his negotiators would arrive here sooner.

He stopped pacing when he saw something on the monitor. The door had opened to the cell… but Holly was still tied to the wall. "What the hell?" he whispered. "No! I didn't…. Oh, what the hell." He ran towards the door.

It was his guards coming into Holly's cell. And they were coming to torture her.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Holly woke up in an entirely different position than she'd been asleep in. In fact, she was in the process of being moved when she woke up, and that in itself had been what woken her.

The first thing she realized was that she was moving, but there was still pressure on her hands. It couldn't have been her binds, though - it was hands, holding on to her wrists. She was free.. for the moment. But she wouldn't be much longer if she didn't do something, fast.

She started struggling. Amazingly, she managed to get one leg free. At first she was the people holding her leg was in shock. She hadn't actually expected to be able to move - after all, last time they had been here, they'd drugged her so that she couldn't. But this time they obviously hadn't yet, and she took advantage of it.

Using the leg she'd freed, she kicked, knocking one of the men holding her square in the nose. He gasped and fell back, holding his nose. Then, with her body swinging down, she used the leverage to flip herself back up and barely clipped one of the ones holding her hands on the side of the head. He quickly let go.

There was two more than were unscathed. Both of them dropped her as she moved then, sliding from their grasp. Unfortunately what she didn't count on, was the fall. They dropped her alright… straight on her head.

For a second, all she saw was stars. Then she started moving again, attempting to crawl away blindly, but by then they all were recovered and caught her, and she was virtually blind as they grabbed her again and hoisted her up and into position. For what? Well, she wasn't sure either…. until she felt the towel fall over her face. And then she panicked.

They were going to waterboard her? Was Fowl nuts? The last time she'd seen him… Well, she couldn't seem to remember all of it, but he hadn't really seemed so cruel then. Manipulative, yes, but he hadn't been cruel. And anyway, hadn't she agreed to what he'd wanted? She gave him his information, so what could she possibly be being punished for?

As soon as she started struggling, the grips on her arms and legs tightened, and her limbs were pulled out and stretched to the point it was painful. Holly screamed. What was this? Why was he doing this?

There was a sloshing sound and a quiet curse, and then suddenly, she felt the water, very lightly, start to pour down in a small, steady stream onto the towel. Her breathing sped up. It was soaking through, slowly down on her face, ready to smother her…

Holly screamed again and tried to thrash, but their grips were too tight. She didn't move half an inch. By now, it had started to completely soak through, and she felt some of the wet cloth cover her mouth. She gulped and then closed her mouth quickly. She heard of waterboarding. The LEP had it mandatory for certain things to be learned, if not by experience, then at least having knowledge of them. She'd had to do a report on this particular subject… now, she wasn't sure if she regretted that she knew what was happening, or if she was glad that she did. Either way, she was still panicking, and what was worse than the actual waterboarding was the claustrophobia. Highly claustrophobic as she was, the darkness and the feeling of the towel being soaked on top of the fact she was pinned, were enough to set off the feeling.

And yet, just as the towel was getting wet enough to suffocate her, and she really started to panic and feel like she couldn't breathe, she heard it: the sound of the door slamming open.

"Stop!"

It was Fowl's voice, much to her surprise. But he was ordering them.. to stop?

The flow of water did slow, for a second. And then it picked up. Suddenly, she was completely doused, the wet towel sticking to her face like a second skin and making it impossible to breath around the few different layers of wet cloth. She didn't know why until she felt the bucket bump her head too; that idiot had dropped it!

"I said stop!" Fowl barked. "Now! Drop her!"

They did, quite literally. And for the second time in several minutes, Holly hit the hard cement floor and starting seeing stars..until she fell unconscious a few seconds later, from both lack of air and the blow. And the last thing she felt was the wet towel clinging to her face, suffocating her slowly, and the cool floor beneath her back.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, I'm back! Wicked chapter, and I do mean wicked.. Crazy dark fluff of mine involved, fair warning. I would have posted it earlier but I forgot. But it's here now for anyone who cares! So.. enjoy!**

9.

It was almost a half an hour later when she woke up. The first thing she saw? Once again, Fowl.

He saw her, too, when her eyes opened. Her eyes started to widen, but before she could squeak out a word he clamped his hand over her mouth. "Don't scream," he ordered. "Just relax. I'm not here to hurt you. Don't scream."

Holly nodded against his hand, so he let go. She was still wet; her hair was dripping at the ends, and though he had wrapped a dry towel around her shoulders (not the one they had used to waterboard her, thankfully), she was freezing and shivering, her lips slightly blue from cold. "How... How l-long has it been?" she chattered.

"Only about a half an hour," he replied. "Though, you're lucky it wasn't longer. You have a nice bump on your head - a few of them, actually - and I think your wrist may be broken, which is why you do have some pain meds in your system and your binds are different." He nodded to her arms, which she now noticed were tied differently - there were ropes on her forearms instead of her wrists now.

"That's… nice of you.. but I don't understand," Holly said, slowly, as to force the words out around chattering teeth. "Why did you order them to waterboard me and then stop them? That doesn't make sense."

He shook his head. "No, Holly, you misunderstand. The waterboarding wasn't what I had in mind. Well," he corrected himself, a bit awkwardly, "it was, but not anymore. That was only for if you didn't cooperate, which you did. I suppose they just misunderstood.. but I didn't really clarify that they weren't supposed to do it anymore, so it is my fault, too, I guess."

Holly stared at him. It wasn't that she didn't understand; she did. She was just in shock. "So you're saying… I was _tortured _because of a _misunderstanding_?" she demanded.

The human winced. "Yes, unfortunately, that is exactly what I am saying." He lowered his eyes. "Look, Holly.. I'm sorry."

"_Sorry_?" she cried. "Seriously? Is that all you've got? The pain and suffering I just went through, and my claustrophobia, and all the injuries I have now, and all you can say is _sorry_? That's it?" She was half-shouting by the end of it, but her voice was cracking; now he could tell exactly what she was feeling, since her lower lip was trembling and she was rapidly blinking back tears. "That's all you can say for this?" she whispered. "Any of it? Sorry doesn't fix it, Fowl. It doesn't fix any of it. It won't fix what happened, or change it. It won't heal me or erase the memories of this. And it certainly won't bring your father back." Her voice cracked again. "It doesn't bring me any closer to going home, either. Only you can do that. And Frond knows you won't."

Artemis gave her a stern look and frowned. "Now, you know that's not true. I told you, I will let you go home as soon as I get my father back. In the meantime, this is your home." He gestured around the cell, making his point, but not well - not that she cared. It wasn't a good point to make, anyway.

Her voice trembled when she spoke, filled with a mixture of fury, sadness, and passion. "This will never be my home," she snarled. "No matter what you do to me, I will never, ever accept any place but Haven as my home."

"I didn't ask you to, and I wouldn't. As I said, this is only temporary." He sighed.

For a few minutes, they lapsed into silence. Artemis was staring at the wall, deep in thought, and for a moment, when he heard her, he thought he'd hallucinated. But then he looked down at Holly, and, with a softening gaze, he realized he wasn't crazy, and she actually was crying.

"Oh, Holly.." he groaned softly, but she didn't hear him over her sobs, even as soft as they actually were. Staring at her for a second, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his knife, leaning towards her again as he flicked it open.

Holly gasped when she saw it and curled back in on herself, pressing her body against the wall and as far away from him as possible. "Don't!" she pleaded thinly. "Please! I-I'm sorry.. I shouldn't have kept my mouth shut, but I couldn't anymore, and it just seemed like a good time -"

He pressed his hand over her mouth again. "Stop, Holly. I'm not going to hurt you. The knife is for your binds, okay? Just your binds." He waited until she nodded, then used the knife to undo the knots in the ropes on her wrist. She dropped as soon as they fell off, and he caught her, pulling her into his lap and laying her down across it despite the fact she was wet and a sobbing mess.

"Shh.." he murmured in her ear, cradling her gently and trying to calm her down. "Hey, relax, alright? Just relax… Calm down." He brushed her wet hair away from her eyes and rested his forehead against hers, softly beginning to hum a sweet lullaby that he recalled from his earlier years.

Whether it was the lullaby, his soft words, or just the fact that she ran out of tears, eventually she stopped crying. But she still laid in his lap, allowing him to hold her, and after a while not a word was said, and there was no sounds until finally, Artemis spoke up again.

"Are you okay now?" he asked, his voice soft and soothing still despite the fact she was calm now, almost as if he worried the sound of his voice would upset her again. "Feel better?"

Holly sniffled and looked up at him. "Honestly? Not much, but... it did help a little bit." She rested her head against his chest, closing her eyes. "Thank you for that, though. I really did need that… even if I probably didn't deserve it."

Fowl shook his head. God, was the guilt eating at him. But what could he really do? He was doing what he could, all that he could, without giving up the operation at this vital stage. He took a second to gather himself and force down the guilt before speaking again. "No, Holly. Don't speak like that. You did deserve it, and if there's anything at all that you didn't deserve, its what I've put you through since I brought you here; the torture, and all your injuries, and the emotional pain…" he stopped and winced. "I know it still doesn't make it better, but I'm still sorry."

Holly's eyes opened. "I know. And… it does help, even if it doesn't change anything." She leaned up, and, almost hesitantly, pressed her lips against his cheek in a soft kiss before lying back down in his lap.

He swallowed down his shock and stared at her. "What was that for?"

Her face turned red. Suddenly, it seemed to hit her what she just did. "I… for a thank you," she explained, her voice weak. "Just something to remember me by.. and to remind you in the worst of times that even for all your posturing, you're not as evil as you pretend to be."

He quirked an eyebrow at her, but couldn't hold back a small chuckle. Some part of him noted that his composure was slipping, but he couldn't care less at the moment. "Oh really?"

She blushed deeper. "Yes."

"Well then," he said, slowly, a mischievous light in his eye, "if you really believe that, I know a better way you could show me than a kiss on the cheek."

"Like what?" Holly asked curiously. For all _her _posturing, as well, she really was an innocent young woman - and even as pretty as she was, she had next-to-no experience in love or even at flirtation. It always went right over her head.

"Like…" he leaned down, so his face was barely an inch from hers, and smiled just a little. "...this." Very slowly and gently, with almost no force at all, his mouth came down over hers.

Holly first reaction was a gasp. Then, after a second of the barest hesitation, she kissed back, opening her mouth and allowing him to kiss her well, too. It was a full minute before he drew back and they both were able to breathe again, but with the return of oxygen came the realization of exactly what the two of them had just done.

Holly gasped again, but this time wasn't idle, throwing herself out of his lap and into the furthest corner she could, pressing her small form against the wall to get as far away from him as possible. She gulped and closed her eyes before speaking, still breathing slightly ragged. "You just kissed me."

Artemis nodded, eyeing her warily. He was a bit shocked by his bold actions too, but he couldn't say he regretted them. He could still taste her against his lips. "Yes," he conceded quietly, after a moment. "Yes, I did." He paused and watched her. "Are.. are you okay?"

It seemed almost ridiculous to ask, but he realized it was probably wise to anyways.

She blinked rapidly, seeming to think about it, and for a moment Artemis thought she might break down again. But then she shook her head. "I.." She hesitated. "I think I'm fine. Except for the fact that now I'm almost certain I have Stockholm Syndrome."

The human couldn't hold back a laugh at the look on her face. "Well, if you're not a hundred percent certain yet, I could arrange to make sure you are, but I assure you - and my judgement can be trusted, if the fact that I have several degrees in this area myself is any indication - that I can see that you most certainly have Stockholm Syndrome. But," he added quickly, when he saw the look of mortification on her face, "it's nothing to worry about. It will wear off the second something horrible happens and you decide you hate me again."

Holly's brows drew together. "But...what if that doesn't happen?"

"Right," snarked the human. "Like you won't decide you hate me again in less than an hour."

She reached out and smacked his chest, then winced and drew back quickly as fear and pain set in. Her instincts told her to do that, as self-defense mostly as she knew she couldn't win with words, but no doubt that had probably made him mad, and mad meant punishment. Plus, she had forgotten about her wrist, and smacked him with her bad hand, hences the pain that had just shot from her wrist clear up her arm on impact. She hissed and withdrew, cradling her injured arm against her chest.

Artemis frowned deeply at her and reached for her arm. Holly flinched and cowered. He sighed, letting his hand drop as his eyes closed. "Holly, I'm not going to hurt you. Just let me see your wrist."

Holly gulped as her eyes flicked over his face, and then slowly extended her arm towards him. "Good girl," he murmured softly, grabbing her arm and pulling it towards him. He studied her wrist for a moment and nodded. "Yes, now I can obviously see that I was definitely right. You're wrist is broken." He looked up at her and then back down at her wrist, then into her face again. Slowly, still looking into her eyes, he lifted her arm to his lips and kissed her wrist tenderly.

Her eyes were wide as saucers. He chuckled and pulled back, releasing her hand, laying it back in her lap easily as so not to hurt her. "I'm going to go get my bodyguard," he said, standing up. "I can diagnose, but I can't fix anything too serious - he can. He's very good with medication. I'll bring him down and have him fix you up, okay?"

Holly nodded. "Okay.. A-Artemis?"

He looked at her and inclined his head. "Yes?"

"Um.. thank you," she said quickly, averting her eyes from his. "For.. this, and everything."

Artemis smiled a little at her obvious awkwardness and shook his head. "You're welcome, Holly. Now, please - lay down and relax until I come back, okay?"

She nodded and laid down again, watching him silently as he exited. She put her head back against the wall and shivered once, sighing, and closed her eyes as she settled in to wait.

**Yay! Crazy fluff! Anyone enjoy that as much as I love writing it? It's weird, but I love it. What did you guys think? Enjoyed? Hated? Let me know!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Boo. I'm back.**

**Long story short, I'm bored out of my skull. Thought I'd amuse you guys. Amuse me back with some reviews? Good ones, too, I hope... anyway, enjoy.**

10.

_Buzz. Buzz. _

Chris's eyes opened slowly, and he looked down at his buzzing hand with irritation. He was sleeping, now, though he probably shouldn't have been, considering he was still at work.

He had refused to go home after his daughter's kidnapping - no way. He needed to stay here and get as many updates as possible, as fast as possible. Anyways, if he was being honest, he wasn't sure if he could bear to go home and face his empty house. It might just be too much, and he couldn't afford to get overwhelmed right now.

Chris rubbed his eyes, then answered the communicator.

"Hello?"

"Chris." It was Foaly's voice, low and worried. "Get back to the Ops Booth, stat."

"On it."

oOoOoOoOoOo

"What's up? What have we got?" Chris demanded, not even waiting for the door to slam closed behind him.

"More footage," Root said grimly. "And it's not good."

Root looked like hell. He was obviously tired, with huge, dark bags under his eyes and for once a form that wasn't completely straight and rigid. His shoulders were slumped down, and he was leaning heavily against the wall as if he couldn't hold his own weight anymore. Chris raised an eyebrow at him.

"Show me."

"Come here." Foaly beckoned him over and pointed to his padded chair. "Sit down."

"Sit?" Chris asked warily. "Why? Is it that bad?"

"It's that bad," Root said tersely. "Just sit down, shut up, and watch, Major."

Chris sat, slowly, sighing and looking tiredly up at the screen. He swallowed down the fervent, persistent fear and guilt that kept threatening to rise in his throat and chest, and lifted his eyes to the screen.

Holly was there, still tied into position on the wall. Her body looked rough, and she was unconscious, but it couldn't last - not with Fowl standing over her.

"Holly." Fowl was speaking, softly. His tone wasn't quite kind but it wasn't cruel, and the hidden motive behind it was clear to decipher. "Wake up."

Chris's hand twitched toward his gun when her eyes fluttered and she groaned. "Dad?"

"Bastard," he hissed softly. Root coughed into his hand, but Chris didn't look at him. He only had eyes for the screen.

He couldn't believe the boy actually had the nerve to laugh at her. "No, Holly. It's Artemis Fowl, remember?" His tone took on a less amused edge. "Wake up, now. We need to talk."

"Pause it!" Chris demanded. Foaly did, and he spun around to look at Root. "How does he know her name?"

"How should we know? Maybe she told him." Root shrugged. "Foaly hasn't traced the footage back that far yet," he explained.

Chris nodded and turned back around. Foaly unpaused it without having to be told.

Holly was speaking. "Yeah, right. About what?" she asked around a yawn.

Fowl chuckled again. The sound put Chris's teeth on edge. "About my father, of course."

Her eyes flashed with irritation as she sighed at him. "Look, please - I don't know anything about your father. You'd have been better off for information with my dad than me. You're not going to get anything from torturing me, or pestering me, or anything else you care to try."

"Oh?" His voice was low, dangerous. Chris felt his heart cinch. Something bad was coming.

"Oh, yeah, Mud Boy," Holly snapped at him. Chris flinched. She yawned. "Can I go back to sleep now? Please?"

"Oh, of course. You're free to go back to sleep anytime you like." Holly started to speak, but he couldn't decipher what she was saying over Fowl continuing to speak overtop of her. "We'll just continue this conversation when you wake up, after the pain starts curling around in your abdomen. Maybe then you'll be forthcoming with information."

"What?" Chris shouted. He was on his feet in an instant. "Stop! No! Commander, you understand what that means, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Root said. "He gave her holy water."

"She doesn't see it," Chris said, staring at the screen in wonder and disgust. "He poisoned her and she's not even sure with what."

"She's about to find out." Foaly nodded at the screen. "Look."

Fowl shrugged at her with sickening nonchalance and said, "well, that's what holy water does to fairies, right? I'd just assumed you'd want the cure as soon as possible as so to not have to go through unnecessary pain, but apparently I was wrong."

"Holy water?" Holly's voice was barely a whisper, pain and surprise obvious. He could only imagine what was going through her head just then - not that he really wanted to. "You put holy water in me?"

Fowl shrugged again. "Maybe."

"Why?" she demanded. "You stupid human. You'll never get information from me now! You've as good as killed me!" She stopped for a second, as if trying not to choke, and when she spoke again her voice was softer and almost defeated. "I don't know how you did it, but that's sick and cruel. I thought you didn't like painful deaths?"

"When did he say that?" Chris asked, looking at Foaly briefly. "I want to see where he tells her that."

"Later," Foaly said. "I haven't traced that far back yet."

"Well, how I did it, my dear elf," Fowl was saying, "it's simple really. Look here."

Chris's eyes followed his gaze and his finger, to where he was pointing up at her arm. For a minute after that, he ceased listening, staring at her arm and the tube that was now sticking out of it. "Oh, no," he muttered, rubbing his face. "No, no, no."

Foaly came up and put a comforting hand on the man's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Chris. I know how much this must suck for you - Holly means a lot to all of us. It's not boding well with any of us to see her like this."

He took several deep breaths and nodded. "I don't know how much more I can watch. Does she live? Or did the bastard let her die?"

"No," Root said firmly, finally finding his voice and speaking up. "She lives. He cures her and puts some chemicals in her system - she told him everything under the influence."

"She didn't know much."

"I know." Root came over and stood behind him. "She only knew the little bit you told her. It's not enough to do anything major. But I bet the Fowl kid contacts us somehow soon enough. He's gotten all he can from her - now he's going to want to get rid of her."

"What about our guy?" Chris asked, not commenting on the last few statements. He didn't want to think about how Fowl would get rid of her.

"Still comatose. The medics diagnosed it as heart problems. They gave him a small shot of magic to boost him around - he should be waking soon."

"Right." The Major nodded. He looked at Foaly. "Can I get a copy of all this film? I want to see all of this, but I have more work to do."

"No you don't."

"What?" Chris growled. He turned the chair slowly, allowing Root time to move back so his knees didn't get bumped. "With all due respect, there's no way in hell I'm leaving."

Root shrugged. "Fine then. Stay. Be more sleep deprived. Miss negotiations. Your choice. I just figured you'd still like to go up and have a slight chance of seeing her before I'll undoubtedly have to kick you out for being a hothead."

"I would have thought I was too personally involved in the first place..." he started to say, but trailed off when Root held up his hand.

"You're undoubtedly my best senior officer, Christopher. I'll look past the fact that Holly is your daughter if you will."

Their eyes met and locked. Christopher nodded. "Deal."

They shook on it. Chris turned to Foaly. "I guess I'm going home for now. Give me the tapes for studying later."

Foaly nodded and headed towards the controls, then paused halfway. "Commander. Do we show him that now or let him watch it himself?"

"Watch what?" Chris demanded suspiciously.

"No." Root turned to Chris. "You can have a copy of the tapes on account of the fact that you're resting now and won't have time to do something stupid or rash. Do not, under any circumstances, do anything stupid after you watch the tapes. Are we clear, Major?"

"Yes sir," he agreed readily. "But, ah... Do I want to know what he's talking about?"

"No. Now leave," Root said curtly. "Go rest."

Chris stared at him for a second, then nodded. He rose to his feet and saluted, then turned, took the tape Foaly offered him, and left the office.

"Do you think we should have told them they kissed?" Root asked Foaly as the door shut behind him.

"Nah. Poor guy is probably better off finding out himself," Foaly replied. Root nodded in agreement.

They went back to work.

oOoOoOoOoOo

He went straight home and put the disc in the player. However, he did not watch it immediately.

He was stressed and tired, but he didn't feel like lying down and sleeping. Well, technically he did, but he refused to. He showered and put on a pair of sweatpants and a nightshirt, but didn't sleep - he prepared some food and went back out then to watch the video, a plate of pasta in his hand.

He only realized too late that that probably wasn't the best food idea. Luckily, though, he didn't hit any gruesome scenes while he was watching - well, nothing bloody, anyway.

He sat down on the couch, which suddenly felt way too big for just one person, and stretched out to fill the void of space. He picked up his remote and flicked "play".

The video resumed automatically from the point that it had been stopped at before. He didn't mind - he rather wanted to hear what had went down anyway.

There was a few fist clenching, teeth grinding moments there at first, with the end of that scene. Holly under sodium pentothal was rather funny, for a few moments. And then anger set in, and the scene changed to just the wrong thing.

"Holy Frond."

His jaw had dropped open. He saw them come in with the bucket and the towel and lost his voice for a second as waves of hatred and disbelief simultaneously swathed him. No. She gave him the information, so why? Why hurt her? Waterboard her, no less. He couldn't understand it. It made no sense.

Indeed it didn't. And his confusion only worsened when Fowl came in and ordered for them to stop it.

She'd been so close to escaping for a minute, so close to getting out of it. If only she weren't already drugged and injured. If Fowl was a little bit stupider, and Holly in a little better shape, it'd be over by now. But he wasn't, and neither was she. It was hardly fair, and his heart ached at the sight of her now even more broken body unconscious on the floor. Her screams echoed in his mind. Splayed out, soaked, broken and unconscious. It was horrible.

He watched as Fowl's guards file out and Fowl himself came over and knelt down, pushing two fingers against her throat to feel for a pulse. He was visibly relieved when he found it, and lifted her with little difficulty and brought her back over to where he formerly had her and carefully tied her back up. Chris noted that the ropes now bound her forearms instead of her wrist. Why would Fowl do that? Did Fowl see something he hadn't?

He didn't have time to ponder it, because just then his communicator rang. He paused the movie and answered it, this time not hesitating.

"Commander?"

"Major. Get up and get going, and meet me at the shuttle port in 30. It's time for us to go negotiate."


End file.
